Ambient air which is to be separated by cryogenic rectification must undergo certain preparatory operations to render it suitable for the operation of the air separation facility. In particular, the air must be compressed to a pressure greater than ambient pressure, cooled, and substantially cleansed of high boiling impurities such as water vapor and carbon dioxide.
It would be desirable to integrate these three operations in a way such that they may be carried out by a single integrated system.
The compressed feed air is characterized by having a certain heat of compression. It is desirable to efficiently employ this heat of compression to carry out the feed air preparation.
It is thus further desirable to have the three air preparation steps carried out by an efficient, integrated system wherein process energy is utilized efficiently.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for the preparation of feed air for separation by cryogenic rectification wherein the preparatory steps of compression, cooling and cleaning of the feed air are carried out by an integrated system.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method for the preparation of feed air for separation by cryogenic rectification wherein the preparatory steps of compression, cooling and cleaning of the feed air are carried out by an integrated system that efficiently utilizes process stream energy.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method for the preparation of feed air for separation by cryogenic rectification wherein the feed air heat of compression is efficiently employed to carry out the feed air preparation.